


A Book in the Hand is Not Worth Two on the Shelf

by Rukosband



Series: KakaIru Week 2019 [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Don't get between Kakashi and a good book, Established Relationship, Fluff, Iruka's a giant tease, KakaIru Week 2019, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-14 05:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20595368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rukosband/pseuds/Rukosband
Summary: With arms full of a freshly dried puffy comforter, Iruka braked hard, one leg swinging in the air before coming back to the floor. He didn’t usually become to be so shocked that he was stopped in his tracks, but he had startlingly noticed something: the book resting open on Kakashi's chest wasnot Icha Icha.





	A Book in the Hand is Not Worth Two on the Shelf

**Author's Note:**

> For the second day prompt: Books  
Also, does this title make sense?

With arms full of a freshly dried puffy comforter, Iruka braked hard, one leg swinging in the air before coming back to the floor. He didn’t usually become to be so shocked that he was stopped in his tracks, but he had startlingly noticed something: the book resting open on Kakashi's chest was _not Icha Icha_.

The jounin was dozing on the couch, one arm behind his head while the other hand lay across the forest green cover. His chest rose and fell slowly, indicating that he had fallen asleep, quite comfortable in the familiarity of Iruka's apartment. He used to pretend to rest while Iruka crashed around doing chores or spent the better part of the day grading Academy worksheets. Now he let his guard drop, not completely for he was still a deadly shinobi, but in the presence of Iruka he relaxed more often. 

But that was beside the point. What startled Iruka was the choice in reading material.

He had long given up on taking away Kakashi's never-ending copies of smut and trying to press better literary works onto the man. In fact, three years he'd been trying. One and a half of which they had been dating. It was a war Iruka had lost that somehow resulted in _him_ reading the _Icha Icha_ series. He still wasn't sure how Kakashi had tricked him into doing that.

Iruka stepped closer, craning his neck to inspect the book. It wasn't a farce. Kakashi hadn't switched out the cover slip to disguise the book as he's done so in the past. No, this was a hard cover without the sleeve so unless Kakashi had destroyed a perfectly good book (to which Iruka would kill him if he did) he was actually reading something that wasn't porn. And a favorite of his.

Actually… Iruka looked over his shoulder at the bookshelf and noticed the blank space then back at the book on Kakashi's chest. It was his own personal copy.

Upon closer inspection, Kakashi was about halfway through the book. It put a smile on his face and he dearly hoped it wasn’t why Kakashi had fallen asleep. To be told one of his favorite stories was _so_ _boring_ that it put Kakashi to sleep would be heart wrenching.

Shaking his head, he decided to leave his teasing for later and finished folding the laundry before taking up residence on the floor in front of the couch. There was still half a stack of tests to grade and they weren’t going to do themselves and Iruka might as well get it done while Kakashi was resting so he didn’t have to worry about it later. And this way he could spend more time with his favorite jounin without work looming over him. Kakashi might be okay with brushing aside his less important duties, but Iruka wasn’t.

It was some time later when Kakashi stirred awake and Iruka was on his second to last test to grade. There was a deeper inhale behind him, the couch creaking, and then fingers were carding through his hair, slipping to his hair tie and pulling it loose. Iruka’s hair cascaded down, slightly obscuring his vision, but he didn’t mind. He loved it when Kakashi, well, for lack of a better word, pet him. Running fingers through it, tucking it behind his ears, sometimes just holding his hand to Iruka’s head and absentmindedly rubbing small circles with his fingertips - it oddly relaxed the both of them. 

Iruka had his chin in his palm, elbow on the table while he finished marking the test. So far he’s gleaned that he was going to have to revisit the chakra pathways in legs and feet as most of his students had done very poorly in that section. He added it to the ‘Done’ pile and dragged the last packet of papers down in front of him.

Kakashi was still lightly massaging his scalp - a ritual they both liked to do to the other. He could get lost in the sensation. In fact, for a brief moment, he did. Iruka closed his eyes and just appreciated the gentle touching; let Kakashi’s hand melt away reality with this bliss. If he could reincarnate into something, he’d choose a cat any day.

The sound of a page turning broke him out of his stupor and he suddenly remembered that in Kakashi’s other hand _wasn’t_ porn. He bit back a grin and circled the correct answer the student should have chosen before speaking up.

“What did you think of Kenji-san’s encounter with the Mountain God?”

“Maa, he could have handled it better. Making demands cost him the respect of his friends and also very nearly got them killed.”

“Mm,” Iruka nodded in agreement. “But he learned humility in defeat and had his father's sword taken from him."

Kakashi flipped another page. "Hmm. It had to happen. The sword's power was making him arrogant. He relied too much on it and didn't have any respect for something he didn't truly understand or appreciate."

So Kakashi _was_ actually reading it. Iruka smirked and continued to grade while he under handedly questioned the jounin. "But now Kenji-san can't make it through the Cursed Lands without it. He can't kill the Oni King without the sword."

Kakashi almost seemed to growl, the fingers on top of Iruka's head becoming a little tenser. "The sword was meant to purify, not kill. Kenji was using it wrong and doesn't deserve it."

Wow. Iruka was stunned. Kakashi had figured that much out and had only gotten through half the book? It took him until almost finishing it to figure that out. Unless… this wasn't his first time reading it. Kakashi did have a penchant for rereading the same book several times over. There were only so many volumes of _Icha Icha_ and not only did he own them all, but had several copies of each.

But at the moment, Kakashi's poor choice in literature wasn’t important. What _did_ strike Iruka’s fancy, was that Kakashi was having an emotional reaction to the character's dilemma. The jounin actually sounded _angry_ about Kenji's misuse of the Kiyomeru Sword. And that scene with the Mountain God had happened a bit before the halfway mark. For Kakashi to still be reacting so freshly to it… maybe he _hadn't _read the whole book yet. And not only that, he was _invested_ in it.

Iruka only pretended to grade now and glanced over his shoulder. “But now he can’t rescue his sister. He can’t get rid of the monsters that are plaguing the lands to get to her. He has to kill the king to stop the spread of evil.”

Kakashi withdrew his hand from atop Iruka’s head and started wildly articulating as he debated back. “No, he can’t kill the king! He has to _purify_ him. The yokai- they’re not evil, they’re tainted. _Sick._ Killing the king won’t stop the corruption from spreading; it’ll make it worse! The king is what’s holding it back! How can you not _see_ that?”

Iruka had pulled his lips in over his teeth, trying his damndest not to burst out laughing at the man’s passionate argument. He barely succeeded in holding back the grin and snort of amusement as Kakashi turned a blazing eye on him. 

_“What?!”_ the jounin snapped.

Shaking his head and putting his hands up in defense, Iruka gave him a wry smile. “Nothing. Just wondering if you’re enjoying the book.” In his head though, Iruka filed away, _Note to self: Don’t get between Kakashi and his stories._

Realizing his unnecessary tone and finally catching on to Iruka’s smug look, Kakashi avoided eye contact with the faintest of color adding to his cheeks. “W-well, I mean, it’s no _Icha Icha,”_ he said almost as if pouting.

“No, it’s not,” Iruka grinned. _And thank the gods for that._ He lifted his legs up and rotated completely around on his rump before settling down again, this time facing Kakashi. “But I must say, seeing the infamous Hatake Kakashi with something _other _than _Icha Icha _in his hand is rather scandalous. Did you finally get bored of them?”

Kakashi snorted. “You can _never_ get bored with Jiraya-sensei’s works of brilliance. I just… seem to have misplaced the copy of _Tactics_ that was in my vest.”

Bullshit. Iruka almost called him out on it too. He knew damn well Kakashi had hidden a copy or two somewhere in his apartment and the jounin wasn’t above using his ninken to go home and fetch a volume. Not to mention Gai, Yamato, and himself had a working theory that Kakashi had stashes hidden throughout Konoha. Yamato even claimed to have found a copy in the nook of a tree by the training ground Kakashi frequented.

“Uh-huh,” Iruka said instead, making sure Kakashi _knew_ he didn’t believe him. But his boyfriend’s bad tastes aside, Iruka rested his chin on the couch and looked up at him with the best puppy-dog eyed expression as he could muster and multiplied it with a meek tone complete with pouty lips. “But do you like it?”

Kakashi glanced at him from the corner of his eye before turning the book and his face a little further away. “It’s… good,” he mumbled, the tips of his ears flushing red. Iruka grinned, his no-fail tactic successful, and rose up on his knees so he could plant a kiss on Kakashi’s cheekbone.

“It’s better than ‘good,’ but I’ll take it,” he said against Kakashi’s skin. Then he got up and stretched, maybe showing off just a little because he knew Kakashi was watching him, and gathered up the test papers with an extra cock to his hip. “You should know that there’s a prequel explaining how Kenji-san’s father forged the sword with a twist that enlightens some of the things that happen to Kenji-san.”

“Maa, is there now,” Kakashi faked disinterest, turning another page.

Iruka knew better. “Mm-hm. I have a copy on my shelf if you’re interested.”

“Mm. Well, let’s see if I can manage to get through this one, neh?”

“Of course, of course,” Iruka waved him off as he headed into the kitchen to stuff the papers into his messenger bag. He looked at the time and temptingly bit his bottom lip. “You know, I’ve got a _sword_ myself.”

“Oh?” Kakashi watched him as Iruka passed by the couch, his eye predatory.

“Yeah, but I’ve _neglected_ it some and it could use an _experienced_ hand _oiling _it.”

Slowly, like a stalking cat, Kakashi leaned forwards, the book hiding everything the mask was already doing. “Maa, you’re in luck. I happen to be an expert at _oiling swords.”_

Iruka was already stepping into his bedroom, hips tilted, a sly smile on his face as he looked over his shoulder. “You should come show me the proper way to take care of it then.”

Kakashi didn’t need any more hints to snap the book shut and get off the couch. Iruka giggled as spun on his heel to avoid being caught but the jounin scooped him up anyways and unceremoniously tossed him onto the bed. 

xXx

The next morning Iruka was getting ready for work, Kakashi having left hours ago at the crack of dawn for a mission. He was pleasantly satisfied; body aching in all the right places though the kiss mark on his neck was going to be a little troublesome to hide. The other Academy teachers could be relentless in their teasing and heaven forbid a student was around to inquire what the adults were talking about.

But all was forgiven when he noticed the new blank space on his bookshelf. He grinned slyly.

He couldn’t wait to tell Kakashi that there was a sequel.

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all, I low-key started getting invested in creating the story of Kenji and his sword that was entirely made up for this and I almost want to _actually_ write a legit story about it.


End file.
